Management of an advertising exchange using email data

ABSTRACT

In some examples, a computer-implemented method of managing an advertising exchange is provided. The method uses email data and provides an interactive user interface for controlling management of data in an email channel. One or more inputs of online audience data is received. The online audience data includes email channel inventory from multiple publishers, Offline audience data including offline shopping behavior is sourced from at least one or more offline source. The online audience data and the offline audience data is included in a unified customer database, and the interactive user interface includes interface elements selectable to present online and offline audience data sourced from the unified customer database.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/433,702, filed on Jun. 6, 2019, which application is a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/800,585, filed on Jul. 15, 2015,which application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) from U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/025,162, filed on Jul. 16, 2014 and U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/025,158, filed on Jul. 16, 2014. Thedisclosures of each of the applications cited in this paragraph areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for management ofan advertising exchange using email data, and, more specifically, tosystems and methods for managing access and purchase of advertisinginventory using email data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Targeted marketing is a commonly used tool for improving return oninvestment advertising expenditures. In general, the more accurate thetargeting is to consumers, the more benefit is received from theadvertising campaign.

Currently, there are no existing systems that utilize email data tooperate a publisher advertiser exchange. In existing systems,advertisers must work directly with sets of independent publishers. Thisrequires negotiating multiple rates while conforming to multiplestandards. Alternatively, the advertisers must work through an agency,which do not provide transparency or economies of scale.

Needs exist for improved systems and methods for improved systems andmethods for marketing campaigns.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate preferred embodiment of theinvention and together with the detailed description serve to explainthe principles of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary system for management of an advertisingexchange using email data.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary system for computational aspects of managementof an advertising exchange using email data.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary flow diagram for management of an advertisingexchange using email data.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary flow diagram for management of an advertisingexchange using email data.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Systems and methods are described for using various tools and proceduresfor management of an advertising exchange using email data. In certainembodiments, the tools and procedures may be used in conjunction withimproved performance of targeted advertising campaigns in the emailchannel. The examples described herein relate to email channels forillustrative purposes only. The systems and methods described herein maybe used for many different channels, industries and purposes, includingany type of marketing campaigns and/or other industries completely. Inparticular, the systems and methods may be used for any industry orpurpose where targeted marketing is needed. For example, email datacould be used to operate an exchange for SMS marketing or social mediamarketing. For multi-step processes or methods, steps may be performedby one or more different parties, servers, processors, etc.

Certain embodiments may provide systems and methods for targetedadvertising. Systems and methods may aggregate email inventory frommultiple publishers across demographic, psychographic, implicit,explicit, imputed, and computed attributes. The aggregated emailinventory may be visible to advertisers. This may facilitate purchase ofdata for the purpose of targeting and sending third party dedicatedemails.

Certain embodiments may allow advertisers to easily access and purchaseemail data enabling them to optimize yield across dedicated emailaudiences. In addition, publishers may be able to monetize inventory ata premium and more often than with existing system because the inventoryis available to multiple advertisers and aggregated in a marketplace.

An email channel may be any communication sent electronically to anelectronic address, i.e., sent via email. In certain embodiments, anchannel may refer to sending of third party advertisements throughemail.

In general, inventory may be a general term for a unit of advertisingspace, such as a magazine page, television airtime, direct mail message,email messages, text messages, telephone calls, etc. Advertisinginventory may be advertisements a publisher has available to sell to anadvertiser. In certain embodiments, advertising inventory may refer to anumber of email advertisements being bought and/or sold. The termsinventory and advertising inventory may be used interchangeably. Foremail marketing campaigns, advertising inventory is typically an emailmessage.

A publisher may be an entity that sells advertising inventory, such asthose produced by the systems and methods herein, to their emailsubscriber database. An advertiser may be a buyer of publisher emailinventory. Examples of advertisers may include various retailers. Amarketplace may allow advertisers and publishers to buy and selladvertising inventory. Marketplaces, also called exchanges or networks,may be used to sell display, video, and mobile inventory. In certainembodiments, a marketplace may be an email exchange/email marketplace.An email exchange may be a type of marketplace that facilitates buyingand/or selling of inventory between advertisers and publishers. Thisinventory may be characterized based on customer attributes used inmarketing campaigns. Therefore, an email exchange may have inventorythat can be queried by each advertiser. This may increase efficiency ofadvertisers when purchasing inventory. A private network may be amarketplace that has more control and requirements for participation byboth advertisers and publishers.

An individual record/prospect may be at least one identifier of atarget. In certain embodiments, the individual record/prospect may beidentified by a record identification mechanism, such as a specificemail address (individual or household) that receives an email message.

An audience may be a group of records, which may be purchased asinventory. In certain embodiments, am audience may be a group of recordsselected from publisher databases of available records. The subset ofselected records may adhere to a predetermined set of criteria, such ascommon age range, common shopping habits, and/or similar lifestylesituation (i.e., stay at home mother). Advertisers generally select thepredetermined set of criteria when they are making an inventorypurchase.

Although not required, the systems and methods are described in thegeneral context of computer program instructions executed by one or morecomputing devices that can take the form of a traditionalserver/desktop/laptop; mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet;etc. Computing devices typically include one or more processors coupledto data storage for computer program modules and data. Key technologiesinclude, but are not limited to, the multi-industry standards ofMicrosoft and Linux/Unix based Operating Systems; databases such as SQLServer, Oracle, NOSQL, and DB2; Business Analytic/Intelligence toolssuch as SPSS, Cognos, SAS, etc.; development tools such as Java, .NETFramework (VB.NET, ASP.NET, AJAX.NET, etc.); and other e-Commerceproducts, computer languages, and development tools. Such programmodules generally include computer program instructions such asroutines, programs, objects, components, etc., for execution by the oneor more processors to perform particular tasks, utilize data, datastructures, and/or implement particular abstract data types. While thesystems, methods, and apparatus are described in the foregoing context,acts and operations described hereinafter may also be implemented inhardware.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary system 100 for predictive modeling of offlineattribution according to one embodiment. In this exemplaryimplementation, system 100 may include one or more servers/computingdevices 102 (e.g., server 1, server 2, . . . , server n) operativelycoupled over network 104 to one or more client computing devices 106-1to 106-n, which may include one or more consumer computing devices, oneor more provider computing devices, one or more remote access devices,etc. The one or more servers/computing devices 102 may also beoperatively connected, such as over a network, to one or more thirdparty servers/databases 114 (e.g., database 1, database 2, . . . ,database n). The one or more servers/computing devices 102 may also beoperatively connected, such as over a network, to one or more systemdatabases 116 (e.g., database 1, database 2, . . . , database n).Various devices may be connected to the system, including, but notlimited to, client computing devices, consumer computing devices,provider computing devices, remote access devices, etc. This system mayreceive inputs 118 and outputs 120 from the various computing devices,servers and databases.

Server/computing device 102 may represent, for example, any one or moreof a server, a general-purpose computing device such as a server, apersonal computer (PC), a laptop, a smart phone, a tablet, and/or so on.Networks 104 represent, for example, any combination of the Internet,local area network(s) such as an intranet, wide area network(s),cellular networks, WWI networks, and/or so on. Such networkingenvironments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computernetworks, etc. Client computing devices 106, which may include at leastone processor, represent a set of arbitrary computing devices executingapplication(s) that respectively send data inputs to server/computingdevice 102 and/or receive data outputs from server/computing device 102.Such computing devices include, for example, one or more of desktopcomputers, laptops, mobile computing devices (e.g., tablets, smartphones, human wearable device), server computers, and/or so on. In thisimplementation, the input data comprises, for example, publisher data,audience data, email data, and/or so on, for processing withserver/computing device 102. In one implementation, the data outputsinclude, for example, emails, templates, forms, and/or so on.Embodiments of the present invention may also be used for collaborativeprojects with multiple users logging in and performing variousoperations on a data project from various locations. Embodiments of thepresent invention may be web-based, smart phone-based and/ortablet-based or human wearable device based.

In this exemplary implementation, server/computing device 102 includesat least one processor coupled to a system memory. System memory mayinclude computer program modules and program data.

In this exemplary implementation, server/computing device 102 includesat least one processor 202 coupled to a system memory 204, as shown inFIG. 2 . System memory 204 may include computer program modules 206 andprogram data 208. In this implementation program modules 206 may includepublisher module 210, email database module 212, query module 214, andother program modules 216 such as an operating system, device drivers,etc. Each program module 210 through 216 may include a respective set ofcomputer-program instructions executable by processor(s) 202. This isone example of a set of program modules and other numbers andarrangements of program modules are contemplated as a function of theparticular arbitrary design and/or architecture of server/computingdevice 102 and/or system 100 (FIG. 1 ). Additionally, although shown ona single server/computing device 102, the operations associated withrespective computer-program instructions in the program modules 206could be distributed across multiple computing devices. Program data 208may include publisher data 220, audience data 222, email data 224, andother program data 226 such as data input(s), third party data, and/orothers.

As shown in FIG. 3 , certain embodiments may provide management of datain an email channel.

A system 301 may aggregate data from one or more publishers into aunified database. A network of publishers 303 may be provided and/oraccessible. In certain embodiments, the network of publishers 303 may bea private network of publishers. Each of the publishers 305, such asPublisher A, may include audience data. The audience data for eachpublisher may be transformed and aligned into a unified email database307. An advertiser facing query tool 309 may interact with the unifiedemail database 307 to provide advertisers with requested information.Data may be accessed from and/or provided by one or more sources.

FIG. 4 shows a system for management of data in an email channel.

A system 401 may aggregate data from one or more publishers into aunified database. A network of publishers 403 may be provided and/oraccessible. In certain embodiments, the network of publishers 403 may bea private network of publishers. Publishers A-D are shown in FIG. 4 forillustrative purposes, but it is understood that any number ofpublishers may be provided in the network of publishers 403. Privatenetworks of publishers may be maintained for the purpose of fulfillingadvertiser media buys.

Each of the publishers 405, such as Publisher A, may include audiencedata. Audience data may include individual and household leveldemographics from self-reported sources and third party vendors, digitalshopping behavior across other marketing campaigns, and offline shoppingbehavior sourced from catalogues, loyalty cards, retail stores, etc.Audience data may include one or more of the following:

-   -   demographics (explicit information on the email record        individual such as, but not limited to, age, gender, income,        marital status, etc.);    -   geographic (explicit information on the email record such as,        but not limited to, postal address, zip code, state, etc.);    -   psychographic (description of personality, values, opinions,        attitudes, interests, lifestyles, etc. that allow advertisers to        customize content to improve response);    -   implicit: Any third party data, not necessarily questionable as        to its truth, but the audit trail is less strict/complete;    -   explicit: Data that is verified or observed, which may also        include self-reported data;    -   imputed: Use of statistics to determine a value that is missing        from a data set. This may be used as a placeholder until        explicit information is received. For example, based on response        history, a person's gender tray be determined, but there may not        be explicit or implicit data confirming the person's gender; and    -   computed: Data, such as, but not limited to, response rate,        which are based on observed/verified information. For example,        the number of times an individual opens out of the number of        times they receive an email. In certain embodiments, raw        transactions that represent a purchase history ay be used to        compute a score such as RFM (recency, frequency, monetary),        which would not typically be reported.

The audience data for each publisher may be transformed and aligned intoa unified email database 407. Publishers may provide records richaudience attributes. As such publishers may provide records with thesame types of information, but not always all of the same type ofinformation. Publisher records may be transformed into a common formatwith a set of cleaning and augmentation procedures applied, such as, butnot limited to, filling in gaps, layering on new information, etc.Publishers can pass data in any format, which may be independent of thedestination format. As such, the transforming may include normalizingthe audience data, converting the audience data to a predeterminedformat, inputting missing values, appending additional information,cleansing, and manipulating the data for querying in a unified customerdatabase. Each of the publisher records may be stored separately in theemail database and/or may be merged into a single database.

An advertiser facing query tool 409 may interact with the unified emaildatabase 407 to provide advertisers with requested information. Data maybe accessed from and/or provided by one or more sources. The front endquery tool 409 may allow advertisers to count available email inventoryacross the publisher email database.

Although the foregoing description is directed to the preferredembodiments of the invention, it is noted that other variations andmodifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and may bemade without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.Moreover, features described in connection with one embodiment of theinvention may be used in conjunction with other embodiments, even if notexplicitly stated above.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of managing anadvertising exchange using email data, the method comprising operationsperformed by at least one processor at a first system, the operationsincluding: receiving online audience data from a plurality ofpublishers, the online audience data including email channel inventoryfrom the plurality of publishers, the online audience data having one ormore attributes from a group of audience attributes, the online audiencedata from each publisher having disparate types of information;transforming the data and storing the transformed data in a unifieddatabase wherein the transforming comprises augmenting the data in theunified database via layering on new information so that the transformeddata is homogenous; predictive modelling of offline attribution relatingto offline audience data; the offline audience data including offlineshopping behavior sourced from at least one offline source; including inthe unified database the online audience data and the offline audiencedata; querying the unified database to read the transformed onlineaudience data and the offline audience data to target audience members;and in response to the querying, transmitting targeted emails using theemail channel inventory from the plurality of publishers.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the transforming further comprises normalizing theaudience data, converting the audience data to a predetermined format,inputting missing values, appending additional information, cleansing,and manipulating the data for querying in the unified database.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the unified database comprises a series ofdatabases for each of the one or more publishers.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the query is from an advertiser.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein in response to the query, further providing a count of availableemail inventory.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the layering on newinformation includes statistically determining a value that is missingfrom the online data.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the valuedetermined includes a person's gender.
 8. A system for management of anadvertising exchange using email data, the system comprising: one ormore databases; and one or more processors for performing operationsincluding: receiving one or more inputs of online audience data from aplurality of publishers, the online audience data including emailchannel inventory from the plurality of publishers, the online audiencedata having one or more attributes from a group of audience attributes,the online audience data from each publisher having disparate types ofinformation; transforming the data and storing the transformed data in aunified database, wherein the transforming includes augmenting the datain the unified database via layering on new information so that thetransformed data is homogenous; predictive modelling of offlineattribution relating to offline audience data; the offline audience dataincluding offline shopping behavior sourced from at least one offlinesource; including in the unified database the transformed onlineaudience data and the offline audience data, querying the unifieddatabase to read the transformed online audience data and the offlineaudience data to target audience members; and in response to thequerying, transmitting targeted emails using the email channel inventoryfrom the plurality of publishers.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein thetransforming further comprises normalizing the audience data, convertingthe audience data to a predetermined format, inputting missing values,appending additional information, cleansing, and manipulating the datafor querying in a unified database.
 10. The system of claim 8, whereinthe unified database comprises a series of databases for each of the oneor more publishers.
 11. The system of claim 8, wherein the query is froman advertiser.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein in response to thequery, further providing a count of available email inventory.
 13. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein the layering on new information includesstatistically determining a value that is missing from the online data.14. The system of claim 8, wherein the value determined includes aperson's gender.
 15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprisinginstructions which, when read by a machine, cause the machine to performoperations at a first system, the operations including: receiving inputsof online audience data from a plurality of publishers, the onlineaudience data including email channel inventory from the plurality ofpublishers, the online audience data having one or more attributes froma group of audience attributes, the online audience data from eachpublisher having disparate types of information; transforming the dataand storing the transformed data in a unified database wherein thetransforming comprises layering on new information so that thetransformed data is homogenous; predictive modelling of offlineattribution relating to offline audience data; the offline audience dataincluding offline shopping behavior sourced from at least one offlinesource; including in the unified database the transformed onlineaudience data and the offline audience data; querying the unifieddatabase to read the transformed online audience data and the offlineaudience data to target audience members; and in response to thequerying, transmitting targeted emails using the email channel inventoryfrom the plurality of publishers.
 16. The medium of claim 15, whereinthe transforming further comprises normalizing the audience data,converting the audience data to a predetermined format, inputtingmissing values, appending additional information, cleansing, andmanipulating the data for querying in the unified database.
 17. Themedium of claim 15, wherein the unified database comprises a series ofdatabases for each of the one or more publishers.
 18. The medium ofclaim 15, wherein the query is from an advertiser.
 19. The medium ofclaim 15, wherein in response to the query, further providing a count ofavailable email inventory.
 20. The medium of claim 15, wherein thelayering on new information includes statistically determining a valuethat is missing from the online data.